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Went to the Goodyear 400 at Darlington last Sunday

kingofnerf

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Decided to go about two weeks before the race and still found a good ticket in the Tyler Tower upper grandstands.

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I was in the lower grandstands for last year's Labor Day race and decided to try the upper ones this time. They cost $20 more but the better view of the whole track was well worth it.

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I was in row 13. The view was pretty good but I will probably go about 4 rows higher the next time around.
 
Here's a closer view of the Mach 1 pace car. (below)

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I believe that sick-looking grey color is only available on the higher-optioned pony cars.

Kyle Larson's #5 car gets pushed to the garage after losing an engine. (below)

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He had one of the better-looking paint schemes for the Throwback Weekend race.

The #1 of Ross Chastain makes a green flag pit stop. (below)

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FULL DISCLAIMER: I really went to see Ross Chastain bust another watermelon on the Start/Finish line after winning the race. He did indeed win Stage 2, but the Lady in Black made him look stupid at the start of Stage 3 and he was done after spinning and wrecking the car. He had a Top 3 car until he wrecked. Sad. No melon this time.

The meat hook comes for Kyle Busch's #18 car after he hit BK's #6 car and damaged the left front suspension. (below)

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At the time I didn't really know why he parked it where he did. I watched him get out of the car and walk smartly to his hauler, but was too busy watching it to take a picture.
 
The Goodyear blimp. (below)

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It was overcast and windy and unseasonably cold for the race. I wore a long-sleeved shirt and wore a hoodie sweatshirt during the race. Even then it still got pretty cold after 6:00 pm in the later part of the race. The cold weather made for great racing, but it was pretty cold.

The crew of the #48 car puts out a fire. (below)

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Then they push the car to the garage area. (below)

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The #48 pitted for a caution and then caught on fire after going back out on track. It was a pretty intense fire that I could see from the stands as he drove by. He pitted again and that was it.

Joey Logano does his post-race interview right after winning the race. (below)

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He got booed pretty good after showing #24 William Byron the Darlington bump draft.
 
This is the fan zone next to the main entrance to frontstretch grandstands. (below)

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This place was a ghost town last September after the Southern 500 even though the weather was much better for the Labor Day race and the crowd was much bigger.

The vendors had plenty of apparel, but one guy told me they haven't been able to get die-cast cars for almost two months. When he told me that I decided to head on out.

The parking sections have former drivers' pictures on them. (below)

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This guy was in my section. (below)

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It took about twenty minutes for the parking lot to empty enough where I could get out.
 
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I left an hour later from the house than I wanted to and didn't get into my seat until lap 50 in Stage 1, so I didn't get to see the throwback cars on the fan zone midway before the race.

Here's a couple of pics from the NASCAR site:

A replica of David Pearson's Mercury Cyclone. (below)

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A replica of Neil Bonnett's Wood Brothers' Thunderbird. (below)

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A replica of the 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 driven by Buck Baker. (below)

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My dad showed me a similar car that the local Olds dealer in the little town I grew up in had on his property back in the late 1970s. He told me there was a driver that ran at the dirt track in the next town when he was growing up and the car was named "Rocket 88". I didn't know who he was talking about, but I do now.

Richard Petty waves the green flag to start the race. (below)

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The King still looks to be in good shape for his age.
 
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